The Council of Europe welcomed progress on human rights...

The Council of Europe welcomed progress on human rights in Russia but said more should be done in a number of key areas. The Council's Parliamentary Assembly monitoring committee also urged Russia to settle the conflict in Chechnya by peaceful means.
The committee said Russia must take steps to ensure freedom of expression, movement and religion, reform its prosecutor's office and Federal Security Service, and improve prison conditions.
"The (monitoring committee) resolution also calls for the abolition of the death penalty and strongly criticises the recent parliamentary initiative to lift the present moratorium on executions based on a presidential decree," the statement added.